The Mexican Drug War and the Tiahrt Amendments: Adding Fuel to a Fire
The Tiahrt Amendment restrictions hamper investigations into illegal gun trafficking from the United States into Mexico by making it harder for U.S. law enforcement to identify straw purchasers, trafficking rings and the small number of law-breaking gun dealers who supply a steady flow of guns to ultra-violent Mexican drug cartels.
Example: How the Tiahrt Restrictions Hinder California Law Enforcement's Response to Drug Cartel Gun Trafficking
The California State Department of Justice recently sought to learn more about guns that originated in California and wound up in the hands of drug cartels in Mexico. They were told that "because of the Tiahrt Amendment" only the agency originally requesting the trace would be permitted to see the data, effectively shutting down their efforts to stem the flow of illegal guns into the hands of criminals and drug traffickers in California, Mexico, and perhaps across the country.
Read the March 16, 2009 letter from the California Attorney General regarding ATF's rejection of a request for crime gun trace data
U.S. Guns Are Arming the Mexican Drug Cartels
-
The Border Drug War's Consequences:
Since the beginning of 2008, violence related to the drug cartel wars has resulted in more than 7,200 deaths in Mexico, including hundreds of police officers, prosecutors and city officials. -
The Cartels' Guns Come from the U.S.:
In March 2009 Congressional testimony, Special Agent in Charge William Newell, ATF Phoenix Field Division said "Because firearms are not readily available in Mexico, drug traffickers have aggressively turned to the U.S. as their primary source. Firearms are now routinely being transported from the U.S. into Mexico in violation of both U.S. and Mexican law. In fact, 90% of the firearms recovered in Mexico, and which are then successfully traced, were determined to have originated from various sources within the continental U.S." -
How the Gun Trafficking Works:
In February 2008 Congressional testimony, ATF Assistant Director of Operations William Hoover said "the increased incidence of firearms trafficking to Mexico from the U.S. is influenced by numerous factors, including… illegal straw purchases."
State and local authorities are restricted from having full access to aggregated trace data:
The Tiahrt Amendments force gun trace data requests to be made in connection with individual criminal investigations or prosecutions, blocking full access to the aggregate data that law enforcement need to examine gun trafficking patterns and make key connections between separate cases.
UPDATE: President Obama has signed new FY 2010 appropriations language into law, which restores full access to crime gun trace data for state and local law enforcement. However, the Tiahrt Amendments continue to restrict what state and local law enforcement can do with trace data they have gathered.
As a result, clues that may shed light on the cartels' gun trafficking networks are isolated and less likely to produce substantial leads for law enforcement. For example, California is unable to obtain information about law-breaking gun dealers in their state that may be illegally supplying the cartels' traffickers with firearms.
NICS background check records are destroyed within 24 hours:
The Tiahrt Amendments require the Justice Department to destroy the record of a buyer whose NICS background check was approved within 24 hours. This makes it harder to identify and track straw purchasers who buy guns on behalf of criminals who wouldn't be able to pass a background check.
Therefore, records of successful gun purchases by straw buyers feeding cartel gun trafficking networks may be destroyed long before crucial links can be established. For example, FBI and ICE do not have the records they need to detect illegal aliens who may be purchasing guns from dealers along the border.
ATF cannot require dealer inventory checks to detect lost and stolen guns:
While dealers must notify ATF if they discover that guns from their inventories have been lost or stolen, the Tiahrt Amendments prevent ATF from requiring gun dealers to conduct annual physical inventory checks to detect losses and thefts. ATF reported that in 2007 it found 30,000 guns missing from dealer inventories based on its inspection of just 9.3% of gun dealers.
This means that dealers are not required to keep track of the large number of guns that may be making their way into the hands of cartel traffickers through theft or under-the-counter sales by rogue employees.
After years of steady decline, murder and violent crime are once again on the rise – particularly in America’s towns and cities.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports
90% of Americans think police should be allowed to share information with other cities and states about who sold and bought a gun that is found at a crime scene.
